Welcome to the week.
Here are the most noteworthy stories we came across over the past seven days…
Pothole leads to payout: The City of Los Angeles will pay a man $6.5 million to settle a lawsuit that blamed them for a pothole that caused him to crash his bicycle and sustain serious injuries.
Smarter bikes = safer bikes: A Michigan tech company wants to build software into bikes and bike parts that allows them to “talk” to computer systems inside cars in order to warn of the presence of bicycle riders (and vice versa presumably). Trek is a partner in the venture.
Froome does the double: Professional road racer Chris Froome cemented his legacy as an all-time great by winning the Vuelta de Espana and the Tour de France in the same season.
Bikes save the day: Look what transportation mode people are turning to in Houston when all else has failed.
More laws for bike users: Following the death of a woman who died after being hit by a bicycle rider, the UK government is looking at extending dangerous driving laws to bicycle operators.
An indictment of cars-first cities: Last week it was the 500,000 or so cars abandoned by Houstonians fleeing the flood. This week it’s the utter failure of Florida’s freeway-only, cars-first evacuation plan. Say it with me: In a future of climate extremes, our transportation systems must be more resilient and continuing to invest in single-occupancy vehicle infrastructure is the worst decision we can make.
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Kids on transit: A father of five who lives in downtown Vancouver Canada has to mount a legal campaign to continue to let his young children use the bus on their own.
Dutch walk anywhere they want: While U.S. cities still criminalize walking in the wrong place, the Bicycle Dutch blog shares that the entire concept of “jaywalking” is nonexistent in the Netherlands.
Levees in Portland: Don’t miss this Willamette Week piece on the sorry state of the Columbia River levees that protect Portland from flooding. While you read it consider that 1) our legislature found hundreds of millions to widen freeways and 2) those levees are what the Marine Drive bike path are built on top of.
Autonomous cars as cure-all: The U.S. House passed a bill that will allow companies to test autonomous vehicles. The move raised concerns from cities and states who want more power to regulate AVs on their streets.
Bike to work primer from WaPo: This article has a good roundup of recent health/safety research and profiles of people who bike to work. If you already ride, it might be a good link to share with a friend who’s on the fence.
Cycling is “a piece of magic”: This article in the NY Times is more proof of the immense benefits a city accrues once leaders figure out that cycling is the best transportation investment they can make.
China passing (on) gas: The BBC reports that the Chinese government is researching a plan to ban the sale of gas and diesel-powered cars.
NYC Century horror: A disgusting and horrific scene when a drunk driver slammed into several people who were participating in the NYC Century ride.
This pallet-grabbing bike trailer is awesome:
Those who think deliveries have to be done only by motorised vehicles are stuck in the 60s.@ProperBicycles pic.twitter.com/ZqxjcCp8Ws
— 21st Century City (@urbanthoughts11) September 9, 2017
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— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org
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